International news round-up

Greek public services to strike

Public sector unions in Greece have called a general strike for Thursday of next week. Private sector unions will hold a shorter stoppage. Local government workers will strike for three days.

Mayors have planned a shutdown of local public services this Wednesday, to support workers fighting job cuts. The government has until this Thursday to raise £24 billion to get a bailout.

As Socialist Worker went to press it had failed to get the money from the private sector. And it was too afraid of workers’ resistance to plunder pension funds again.

Italy’s technocrat prepares to quit

Italy’s unelected “technocrat” prime minister Mario Monti announced last Saturday that he will resign as soon as parliament has approved his new budget. This could mean elections as soon as February.

Silvio Berlusconi, Monti’s billionaire predecessor, resigned in disgrace, yet claims that he plans to stand again. He feels a “responsibility” to run again. It was the withdrawal of support by Berlusconi’s party that prompted Monti to quit.

Assad’s desperate measures in Syria

Opposition groups in Syria fear that President Bashar al-Assad is preparing to use chemical weapons.

They are worried that the increasingly isolated dictator will resort to the weapons in a desperate attempt to hold onto power.

Assad has already carried out air strikes and military assaults on working class areas where the opposition to his brutal regime is rooted.